Page 14 of Dangerous Lies

“Oh, I'vewatchedbug play porn. It'snot my thing,” she said with not even a hint of a smile and he wasn't sure ifitwas a joke until she burst out laughing. “You shouldseeyour face.”

“I'm just trying to figure out how bug play works.” He paused. “You didn't answer my question?”

Rose glanced over her shoulder into the living room. Tyler was still in his room and they were alone.

“Thiscouldgetmessy.”

That wasn't a no. He took a step forward, dipped his head, and their lips brushed against each other. When she didn't back away, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. She melted into his embrace as he swiped his tongue against her lips. The surrounding trouble disappeared as she kissed him back.

“Mom!” Tyler yelled.

Rose stiffened in Ginger’s arms before she pushed away and ran out of the kitchen.

6

ROSE

Rose focused on the blood pool in front of her in the small apartment. The past week had gone by fast, and she and Ginger had developed a comfortable routine. He'd finally allowed her to do a crime scene cleanup alone. She didn't mind when he came along, except for the fact she found herself watching him more than doing work.

He hadn't kissed her since that first day. Some nights, she wanted nothing more than for him to whisk her off to bed, but shit was too messy. She hadn't told him Tyler was his son yet. Ginger had the right toknow, and they’d spent hours in the backyard throwing a ball. He’d even helped Tyler with his homework each night. Her keeping the secret was selfish, and sheknewshe had to tell him.

Brittany had practically given her blessing for her and Ginger, butitwas more than that. How did you explain to a man you're a twenty-nine-year-old virgin? She wasn't saving herself for marriage. For years, she’d worked to make something out of herself, then when she was ready for more, Brittany had asked her to take Tyler. The young boy turned her world upside down for good, and he was all she lived for. After his birth, her sex life, or lack thereof, became the lowest priority.

She'd never experienced the need to find a man or scratch an itch until Ginger. Her bodyfeltlikeitwas about to blow up if he didn't touch her again soon.

The door to the apartment creaked open, and she reached for the bottle of mace Ginger made her bring with her. She drew the line at a gun. They spent the prior night arguing over her taking one, but she’d won in the end.

Detective Miller stepped into the apartment. He wasn't in his dress blues. Instead, he had on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. In his right hand, he had a bottle of water. “Rose.”

“I'm starting to think you are stalking me, officer,” she joked, but deep inside, she worried her words were true.

He'd shown up to almost every one of her jobs. Lately, even ones she didn'tgetthrough the precinct. Ginger had said he didn't trust the man, and something was off. She couldn't deny the claim, but the report Lucas had put together came back clean. He couldn't find one complaint about Evan Miller.

“Not stalking.” He held up his hands. “I actually live next door to this scene. I calleditin three nights ago when Iheardthe gunshot.”

She tried not togettoo involved in what happened. If she concentrated on the blood,ithelped her deal with the fact someone had died. “Did youknowthe person?”

“Yeah, Ms. Waldon lived in the building since nineteen fifty.” He took a sip of his water. “She was always around to help someone out. Not one neighbor had anything bad to say about her.”

“Did you find the person?” Sheknewhe wouldn't tell her much if the case was still open.

“No, he jumped out the window and disappeared.”

The apartment was on the eighth floor.Itwasn't like the guycould justjump out the window. She wanted to point out many of the same blood splatter patterns on the wall matched the other cases he claimed were suicide.

“Who’s working the case? I didn'tseeanything in the job notes.”

“The department ruledita suicide.”

She glanced around the room and spotted the rose paper between two books. The same rose paper she'd found at three other crime scenes. “You said the man jumped out the window.”

“I gave my report to the officers on duty, and no one thoughtitwas believable since she had a gun in her hand and was dead.” Detective Miller looked bothered for once.

“So you gave the information to your co-workers, and they didn’t believe you?” she asked. “Sucks when someone doesn’t believe you when you can show actual evidence.”

“You’re not a crime scene analyst, Rose.” Detective Miller shrugged. “The department gave me a few days off. Wecouldmeet and have dinner one of those nights.”

She hated how hecouldbe nice one second and turn into an asshole the next. He kept reminding her she was uneducated, but she was good enough to go on a date.

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